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The World in Thirty-Eight Chapters or Dr Johnson’s Guide to Life
Dr Johnson was a dazzling conversationalist, a polymath and a moralist, whose intellectual and social curiosity were boundless. Yet he was also a deeply melancholy man, haunted by dark thoughts, sickness and a diseased imagination. In his own life, both public and private, he sought to choose a virtuous and prudent path, negotiating everyday hazards and temptations. His writings and aphorisms illuminate what it means to lead a life of integrity, and his experience, abundantly documented by him and by others (such as James Boswell and Hester Thrale), is a lesson in the art of regulating the mind and the body.
Johnson's story touches on many themes that have enduring significance. He was, and remains, a perceptive commentator on the vanity of human wishes, the rewards and dangers of charity, the need to cultivate kindness, the complexities of family life (especially marriage), the effects of boredom and the fleeting nature of pleasure. He writes and speaks incisively and humanely about the ego, ambition, hypocrisy, fallibility and disorders of the mind, as well as the corrosive effects of obsession, the precariousness of fame and the skulduggery of the literary world. He is a source of profound good sense about what it means to be a lawyer, a teacher and a doctor. More than that, though, he continually translates his experience of poverty, scorn, pain and madness into a rich understanding of how to be.
Johnson's story touches on many themes that have enduring significance. He was, and remains, a perceptive commentator on the vanity of human wishes, the rewards and dangers of charity, the need to cultivate kindness, the complexities of family life (especially marriage), the effects of boredom and the fleeting nature of pleasure. He writes and speaks incisively and humanely about the ego, ambition, hypocrisy, fallibility and disorders of the mind, as well as the corrosive effects of obsession, the precariousness of fame and the skulduggery of the literary world. He is a source of profound good sense about what it means to be a lawyer, a teacher and a doctor. More than that, though, he continually translates his experience of poverty, scorn, pain and madness into a rich understanding of how to be.
320 pages, Paperback
Published July 11, 2019
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88 people want to read
About the author
Henry Hitchings
16 books37 followersHenry Hitchings is the author of The Language Wars, The Secret Life of Words, Who’s Afraid of Jane Austen?, and Defining the World. He has contributed to many newspapers and magazines and is the theater critic for the London Evening Standard.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 3, 2018
This is an idiosyncratic biography of Samuel Johnson which is also a self help book in disguise. Working chronologically through Dr Johnson's life, it is an elegant, well researched account of his personal history and his times, but it also frequently pauses to consider how Johnson's ideas and experiences can be useful to today's reader. It doubles up as an anthology of things he said, some of which are familiar, but many of which are less well known and in some cases surprising. A must for Johnson fans and readers interested in eighteenth century culture, it makes its subject seem highly relevant without pushing hard to assert that relevance.
April 28, 2020
This is a book that needs to be savoured. It requires concentration and stimulates thought. It is also a beautiful homage to the wisdom and goodness of Samuel Johnson. I hope that I will return to it again. There are many fine, quotable moments from both Johnson and the author. I highly recommend it.
October 14, 2019
This is partly a biography of Dr Johnson but also a reflection on his writing and how the ideas expressed by Sam Johnson directly apply to us today. Each of the thirty eight chapters has a different theme based on extracts from Johnson's writings. The book is incredibly well written and is both witty and profound. The author's knowledge of both the subject and the English language is astonishing.
December 1, 2019
If I were to write a book about Samuel Johnson, this is almost exactly the book I’d write. Not only does Henry Hitchings focus on the elements of Johnson that I most admire, his writing (and in particular the Rambler essays) but he also uses the lessons acquired from Johnson’s life and writings to apply to modern life.
As such, this was almost the perfect book for me and as such I began to lose interest. Not because the book was bad, it was great, nor because the book was badly written, it was smooth and engaging, but because the book didn’t challenge me at all. It was like a stand-up comic speaking to an audience who agree on every view, there may be smiles of joy, may be applause for putting unsaid things into words, but little laughter - it’s preaching to those on the same page. ‘Samuel Johnson: In Context’ provided surprises and unknown parts of history but ‘The World in Thirty-Eight Chapters or Dr Johnson’s Guide to Life’ did not.
I highly recommend this book interested in those getting into Johnson, it provides a nuanced and in-depth look at his life and work, always pulling it back to its usefulness to today. I also agree that a lot of what Johnson talked about could be more widely disseminated in modern culture; happiness is not the same as a healthy mind, there are great emptinesses in life which fill up, the world is a fascinating place and the human kind a great object for study.
In each chapter, even the more rambling ones, there are great points which are both interesting in the context of Samuel Johnson’s life and applicable to our own. Not one page of this book fails in providing something thought-provoking - if the reader hasn’t had Johnson himself provoke that thought before.
Chapter 24 begins with a description of what makes Johnson fascinating to his contemporary and) modern devotees;
“rational but full of feeling, stern but compassionate, orthodox in many things but unenamoured of conformism.” That chapter then goes into a discussion about why Johnson’s much mocked definition of ‘network’ is clearer and more precise then it first appears - it makes an argument that I’ve been making for years, although his language may seem complicated, he doesn’t waste words.
I imagine that this is a book I shall return to when I want a bit of Johnsonian ‘bark and steel’ but don’t have time to consult the original source. I really hope this book gains a wide readership because any sane person reading this will get at least a little glimpse of why Samuel Johnson means so much to me.
The only problem with this book is that it is an almost too accurate and concise depiction of what Johnson means to me, meaning that it ultimately has little to say to me that I don’t already feel. For anyone who isn’t into Johnson, I strongly recommend this as a place to start.
As such, this was almost the perfect book for me and as such I began to lose interest. Not because the book was bad, it was great, nor because the book was badly written, it was smooth and engaging, but because the book didn’t challenge me at all. It was like a stand-up comic speaking to an audience who agree on every view, there may be smiles of joy, may be applause for putting unsaid things into words, but little laughter - it’s preaching to those on the same page. ‘Samuel Johnson: In Context’ provided surprises and unknown parts of history but ‘The World in Thirty-Eight Chapters or Dr Johnson’s Guide to Life’ did not.
I highly recommend this book interested in those getting into Johnson, it provides a nuanced and in-depth look at his life and work, always pulling it back to its usefulness to today. I also agree that a lot of what Johnson talked about could be more widely disseminated in modern culture; happiness is not the same as a healthy mind, there are great emptinesses in life which fill up, the world is a fascinating place and the human kind a great object for study.
In each chapter, even the more rambling ones, there are great points which are both interesting in the context of Samuel Johnson’s life and applicable to our own. Not one page of this book fails in providing something thought-provoking - if the reader hasn’t had Johnson himself provoke that thought before.
Chapter 24 begins with a description of what makes Johnson fascinating to his contemporary and) modern devotees;
“rational but full of feeling, stern but compassionate, orthodox in many things but unenamoured of conformism.” That chapter then goes into a discussion about why Johnson’s much mocked definition of ‘network’ is clearer and more precise then it first appears - it makes an argument that I’ve been making for years, although his language may seem complicated, he doesn’t waste words.
I imagine that this is a book I shall return to when I want a bit of Johnsonian ‘bark and steel’ but don’t have time to consult the original source. I really hope this book gains a wide readership because any sane person reading this will get at least a little glimpse of why Samuel Johnson means so much to me.
The only problem with this book is that it is an almost too accurate and concise depiction of what Johnson means to me, meaning that it ultimately has little to say to me that I don’t already feel. For anyone who isn’t into Johnson, I strongly recommend this as a place to start.
September 8, 2021
This book really, really wishes it was Sarah Bakewell's How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer. I don't know if that was Henry Hitchings's explicit intention, but it was certainly that of his publisher and editor - right down to the layout and the cover design on the paperback. Unfortunately, Johnson's life and works, at least in this telling, aren't as compelling as his predecessor. I came away feeling like I still barely knew the man, his views or what made him notable above others. Readable but not memorable.
May 27, 2022
Very enjoyable and thought-provoking. Not a biography as such, even though there is a good deal of biographical material here, and equally, not only a book on Johnson's thought and writings, both of which are here in abundance. Plus Mr Hitchings' own thoughts which evolve out of Johnson's and bring the latter's thoughts into a 21st century context. Lot of strange facts about other people as well, and about Johnson's many idiosyncrasies. A great starting point for anyone interested in Johnson and his life and times.
December 1, 2020
Other than a few quotes about London this was my first proper introduction to Samuel Johnson. Told very enjoyably and with reference to other names of the era which sent me into many Wikipedia rabbit holes.
April 18, 2023
An interesting compendium of tidbits and commentary about the life and work of a unique man with plenty of asides about his contemporaries, and views and opinions about him written at various periods of history. Many parts were quite thought-provoking.
September 13, 2018
Erudite, thoughtful, enormously entertaining – and occasionally laugh out loud
July 27, 2019
This is a thoughtful, witty and insightful look into the life of Dr Samuel Johnson. At time entertaining and erudite but well worth the read.
December 5, 2019
Given up after 133 pages. Perhaps it was the mood that I was in, but I couldn't make myself read more, as it didn't capture my interest.
December 23, 2019
A wonderful book by a leading Johnson scholar that is both accessible and vastly enjoyable. A real treat.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews